邯郸学步的英文故事(最新20篇)

相传在两千年前，燕国寿陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他寿陵少年吧!

这位寿陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，论长相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，经常无缘无故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，饭菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他见什么学什么，学一样丢一样，虽然花样翻新，却始终不能做好一件事，不知道自己该是什么模样。

家里的人劝他改一改这个毛病，他以为是家里人管得太多。亲戚、邻居们，说他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本听不进去。日久天长，他竟怀疑自己该不该这样走路，越看越觉得自己走路的姿势太笨，太丑了。

有一天，他在路上碰到几个人说说笑笑，只听得有人说邯郸人走路姿势那叫美。他一听，对上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打听个明白。不料想，那几个人看见他，一阵大笑之后扬长而去。

邯郸人走路的姿势究竟怎样美呢?他怎么也想象不出来。这成了他的心病。终于有一天，他瞒着家人，跑到遥远的邯郸学走路去了。

一到邯郸，他感到处处新鲜，简直令人眼花缭乱。看到小孩走路，他觉得活泼、美，学;看见老人走路，他觉得稳重，学;看到妇女走路，摇摆多姿，学。就这样，不过半月光景，他连走路也不会了，路费也花光了，只好爬着回去了。

故事出自《庄子·秋水》。成语“邯郸学步”，比喻生搬硬套，机械地模仿别人，不但学不到别人的长处，反而会把自己的优点和本领也丢掉。

Samantha, like many renters, is tired of renting. One reason is that her annual rent goes up like clockwork. Every year her landlord raises the rent five percent. Another reason is her neighbors. “New neighbors always seem to be more inconsiderate than the ones who moved out,” she said. “My first neighbor was a door-slammer; I always knew when he came home or left home. After he moved out, a saxophonist moved in. A saxophonist! He practiced two hours a day. On Saturday his friends would come over and I’d get to listen to a whole band. I called the police, but they said saxophone playing is permitted in apartments for up to four hours a day, because saxophone playing is job-related. They told me I was lucky that the guy was only playing two hours a day!”

There are many unhappy renters, but there are also happy renters. “I’ve been lucky my whole life,” said Howard, a middle-aged man. “My neighbors couldn’t have been any better if I had picked them myself. One neighbor was a chef. He’d bring me the best leftovers in the world. Another neighbor was a pianist. She played the most delightful music. Another neighbor was a mechanic who did my tune-ups and changed the oil in my car. My latest neighbor is a birder; we go birding every weekend with our binoculars.”

Different persons have different attitudes. Samantha saw the saxophone player as irritating, yet Howard saw the piano player as delightful. Millions of people would be happy just to have a roof over their head. Yet there are millions who would complain that their roof is the wrong color.

[经典的英文哲理故事

In the Warring States Period, a man in the state of Chu was offering a sacrifice(祭品) to his ancestors. After the ceremony, the man gave a beaker of wine to his servants.

The servants thought that there was not enought wine for all of them, and decided to each draw a picture of snake; the one who finished the picture first would get the wine.

One of them drew very rapidly. Seeing that the others were still busy drawing, he added feet to the snake.

At this moment, another man finished, snatched the beaker(烧杯，大口杯) and drank the wine, saying,"A snake doesnt have feet. How can you add feet to a snake?"

This idiom refers to ruining a venture by doing unnecessary and surplus things.

英文幽默风趣哲理小故事一

父子二人经过五星级饭店门口，看到一辆十分豪华的进口轿车。

儿子不屑地对他的父亲说：「坐这种车的人，肚子里一定没有学问!」

父亲则轻描淡写地回答：说这种话的人，口袋里一定没有钱

(注：你对事情的看法，是不是也反映出你内心真正的态度?)

After his father five-star hotel door and saw a very luxury imported cars.

Son of disdain for his father, said: "The people who take such a vehicle, necessarily Moyouxuewen stomach!"

Father answered lightly: say such things, certainly no money pocket

(Note: Your view of things, is not it also reflects the real attitude of your heart?)

英文幽默风趣哲理小故事二

An elephant said to a mouse ,"no doubt that you are the smallest znd most useless thing that Ihave e ver seen ."

"Pless ,say it again .Let me take it down ."the mouse said ."I will tell a flea what I know."

一头大象对一只小老鼠说：“你无疑是我见过的最小、最没用的东西。”

“请再说一遍，让我把它记下来。”老鼠说。“我要讲给我认识的一只跳蚤听。

英文幽默风趣哲理小故事三

Donny is a seven year old boy. He goes to school every day. The school is near his home.

So he goes there on foot and comes back home on time. But today, he is late.

His mother asks him, “Why do you go to the headmaster’s office?”

Because the teacher asks us a question in class and nobody can answer it, but I can.”

“It’s good to answer the teacher’s question.” “But the question is ‘Who pours ink on my chair?’”

谁把墨水倒在我椅子了?

唐尼是个7岁孩子，每天他都上学。学校在他的家附近。

因为，他不行去上学并按时回家。但是今天他回来迟了。

他的母亲问他：“你为什么去校长的办公室?”

“ 因为老师在上课时老师问我们一个问题，没有人能回答他，而我能。”

“ 回答老师的问题是好事。”

“ 但那个问题 ‘谁把墨水倒在我的椅子上了?’”

第一篇：

The goose with the golden eggs

One morning a countryman went to his gooses nest, and saw a yellow and glittering1 egg there.

He took the egg home. To his delight, he found that it was an egg of pure gold.

Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs.

The countryman became more and more greedy. He wanted to get all the gold at once, so he killed the goose, when he looked inside, he found nothing in its body.

生金蛋的鹅

一天早晨，一位农夫发现自家的鹅窝中有一只金灿灿的蛋。

他将蛋带回家，惊喜地发现这是一个金蛋。

此后，农夫每天都能得到一个金蛋。从此，他靠卖他的金蛋变得富有起来。

农夫变得越来越贪婪，他想一下子得到鹅肚子中所有的金蛋。于是他杀死了鹅，但是，鹅肚子中什么也没有。

第二篇：

Zhuang Zhous family was poor. Once, he went to the official who supervised1 rivers to borrow some grain. The official said: "Well, wait until the end of the year when I collect the taxes from the people, then I will lend you 300 gold pieces. All right?"

When Zhuang Zhou heard this, he was so angry that the colow of his face changed. But he told the official this story: When I came here yesterday, on the way I heard a voice calling Help! I turned my head and saw a small crucian carp in the dried-up carriage ditch2."

I went over and asked: "Little crucian carp, why are you calling for help?"

The little crucian carp answered: "I am a subject of the Dragon King of the East China Sea. Unfortunately I fell down here. Can you give me a little water to save my life?"

I said: "All right, I am just going to the south to sell ideas to the kings of the States of Wu and Yue. I will ask them to stir3 up the water of the Xijiang River to welcome you. Will that do?"

When the crucian carp heard this, it got angry and said: "When I lose the water which is always with me, I cannot survive. Now, I want only a little bit of water so that I can survive.Yet you say such things. Then youd better go to the salt-fish shop to look for me."

鲫鱼求救

庄周家境贫穷。一次，他去监河侯那里借粮食，监河侯说：“好吧!等到年底，我收到了老百姓的税金时，就借给你三百金，行吗?”

庄周一听，气得脸色都变了，但是他却对监河侯讲了这样一件事情：我昨天来时，半路上听到‘救命’的呼喊声。我回过头来，看见干涸的车沟里有条小螂鱼。

我走过去，问它： “小娜鱼，你为什么喊救命?”

小鲤鱼回答说：“我是东海龙王的臣子，不幸落到这里。您能够给我一些水来救我活命吗?”

我说：“好吧!我正好要去南方游说吴国和越国的国王，那我就请他们激起西江的大水来迎接您，可以吗?”

卿鱼听了，气得不得了，说：“我失去了常跟我在一起的水，就无法生存下去了。现在，我只要得到一些水，就能够生存下去;你却说出这样的话。好吧，你不如趁早到咸鱼店里去找我吧!”

The oceanside community of Lozano Beach is debating whether to allow homeowners to rent out their homes on a weekly basis during the summer. Such rentals produce high incomes for the owners and the city, which gets part of this income through a 15-percent surcharge to the owner. “This can be a boon to our coffers,” said Rick Brown, city manager. “In the summer, homeowners can bring in $2,000 a week or more.”

However, these rentals can also be a can of worms. The city stopped allowing weekly rentals 10 years ago because of the problems they were generating. Two, three, or even four families would pile into a two- or three-bedroom house. Then they would park their cars on the lawn and produce huge amounts of trash. Sometimes they would toss this trash on the streets and sidewalks.

Noise would be another problem. Some people would party late and loud every night. This abuse created a lot of friction with neighbors and resulted in extra work for city maintenance crews and for police, who had to respond almost hourly to residents’ complaints about noise, music, trash, and parking problems. But now, the city’s budget problems are making it reconsider its ban.

City officials will hold a community meeting next week to listen to the pros and cons. One official has already suggested a proposal. He thinks that a fine might work. If the city has to respond to complaints, the homeowner will be charged $200 per response. Such a fine might cause the homeowner to be careful to rent only to people that he is sure will be considerate of the neighbors. The city would still get 15 percent of the rental fee, even if the homeowner’s rent were totallyoffset by fines. The city would post inconsiderate renters’ names on the city website so that other homeowners would know about them.

Some officials think the ban should be continued because these visitors to the community have already proven that they have no consideration for others. Their money isn’t worth the headaches they cause.

nstead of saying "I dont have time" try saying "its not a priority" and see how that feels. Often thats a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just dont want to. But other things are harder. Try it:

"Im not going to edit your resume, sweetie, because its not a priority."

"I dont go to the doctor because my health is not a priority."

If these phrases dont sit well, thats the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we dont like how were spending an hour, we can choose differently.

[英文经典哲理故事

比喻一味地模仿别人，不仅学不到本事，反而把原来的本事也丢了。小编收集了邯郸学步的故事，欢迎阅读。

故事出自《庄子·秋水》。成语“邯郸学步”，比喻生搬硬套，机械地模仿别人，不但学不到别人的长处，反而会把自己的优点和本领也丢掉。

战国时候，燕国有个年轻人，他听说赵国的邯郸人走路的姿势潇洒优雅，非常好看。于是，这位燕国青年决定去赵国学习邯郸人走路的姿势。

他带上盘缠，跋涉千里，赶到赵国，踌躇满志地准备学习邯郸人走路的姿势。

在大街上，他看着形形色色的人来来往往，看得他眼发花，脚发抖，不知该怎样迈步子了。于是他决定跟在一个行人后面摹仿，人家迈左脚，燕国青年也跟着迈左脚，人家迈右脚，燕国青年也赶紧迈右脚。但他的两只脚没有协调好，差一点把自己绊倒。

这个行人走远了，他又跟在另一个行人身后亦步亦趋地学走路。别人走得随意优雅，但他学得磕磕绊绊，引得街上的路人都把他当做怪人，停下脚步看他，甚至还有人捂着嘴笑他。

就这样一连过了好几个月，燕国青年的盘缠眼看就快花光了，他只好准备回家。此时的他不但没有学会邯郸人的步姿，而且还把自己原来走路的步法也忘了，竟然迈不开步子走路了。无奈，燕国青年只好四肢着地，爬着回去了。

【说明】 这则寓言告诉我们，不要盲目地崇拜别人，如果因为仿效他人而丢掉自己本来的本领，真是大可不必。

在那个燕国人回家的路上，行人们都在讥笑他。“咦，这人怎么不会走路啊？”“你看，他走路的姿势太‘好看’了！”……

爬了好几天，终于来到了家门前对面的小山坡。他连爬山时都小心翼翼的，生怕“扑咚”一下滚下去，给人们表演“狗啃泥”到了山下，他忧心忡忡，因为离开时他说过会以全新的面貌出现在大家面前。

他的母亲看见了他，问：“儿啊，你怎么了？”他把事情的经过一五一十地告诉了他的母亲。“没关系，咱们重新来过。”就这样，那个人一步一个脚印，在母亲的指点下，又学会了走路。

又过了半年，他走路的姿势漂亮极了。在整个城里，他走路的姿势无人能比。

终于，他走路的优雅引起了轰动。人们到处宣传他。只要有人见到他，就会说：“这位师傅，我想求学于您。”

他收了许多学徒，在他的带领下，这些人也学会了优雅的步子。

从此以后，燕国人的步子再也不比邯郸人的差了……

【典故】

相传在两千年前，燕国寿陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他寿陵少年吧！

这位寿陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，论长相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，经常无缘无故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，饭菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他见什么学什么，学一样丢一样，虽然花样翻新，却始终不能做好一件事，不知道自己该是什么模样。

家里的人劝他改一改这个毛病，他以为是家里人管得太多。

亲戚、邻居们，说他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本听不进去。日久天长，他竟怀疑自己该不该这样走路，越看越觉得自己走路的姿势太笨，太丑了。

有一天，他在路上碰到几个人说说笑笑，只听得有人说邯郸人走路姿势那叫美。他一听，对上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打听个明白。不料想，那几个人看见他，一阵大笑之后扬长而去。

邯郸人走路的姿势究竟怎样美呢？他怎么也想象不出来。这成了他的心病。终于有一天，他瞒着家人，跑到遥远的邯郸学走路去了。

一到邯郸，他感到处处新鲜，简直令人眼花缭乱。看到小孩走路，他觉得活泼、美，学；看见老人走路，他觉得稳重，学；看到妇女走路，摇摆多姿，学。就这样，不过半月光景，他连走路也不会了，路费也花光了，只好爬着回去了。

【释读】

故事出自《庄子·秋水》。成语“邯郸学步”，比喻生搬硬套，机械地模仿别人，不但学不到别人的长处，反而会把自己的优点和本领也丢掉。

小小的故事蕴含着大道理，下面是小编为大家收集整理的一些有哲理的英文故事，欢迎大家阅读参考!

1、The House of 1000 Mirrors

Long ago in a small, faraway village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself,“This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often.” In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself,“That is a horrible place, and I will never go backthere again.” All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kinds of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

【参考译文】

千镜之屋

很久以前的一个很远的小村庄里，有一个以“千镜屋”而著名的地方。一只乐观的小狗听说了这个地方并决定去参观。当来到这个地方，他蹦蹦跳跳地上了台阶，来到房门口，高高地竖起耳朵，欢快地摇着尾巴，从门口往里张望，他惊奇地看到有1000只欢乐的小狗像他一样快地摇尾巴。他灿烂地微笑着，回报他的是1000张热情，友好的灿烂笑脸。离开时他心想：“这是一个精彩的地方，我一定要经常来参观。” 在这个村里还有另一只想参观“千镜屋”的小狗，他不及第一只小狗乐观，他慢吞吞地爬上台阶，然后耷拉着脑袋往屋子里看。一看到有1000只小狗不友好地盯着他，他便开始冲他们狂吠，镜中的1000只小狗也冲着他狂吠，把他给吓坏了，他在离开时心想：“这是一个恐怖的地方，我再也不会来了。” 世界上所有的脸都是镜子，在你所遇见的人的脸上你看到反射出来的是什么?

2、It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now, on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

【参考译文】

一只狗嘴里衔着一块肉，走过一条河上面的桥，看见他自己在水里的影子，以为是另一只狗，那时狗衔着的肉，比他自己的还要大一倍，因此他仍掉自己的那一块，狠狠地扑向那只狗，想夺到那一块较大的肉。结果两头都落了空，因为他想要抓取在水中的那一块，只不过是一个影子，而原来的那一块，也被水冲走了。

谨记，切莫因追逐幻影而丢失已有的东西。

3、An elephant said to a mouse ,"no doubt that you are the smallest znd most useless thing that Ihave e ver seen ."

"Pless ,say it again .Let me take it down ."the mouse said ."I will tell a flea what I know."

【参考译文】

为我所用

一头大象对一只小老鼠说：“你无疑是我见过的最小、最没用的东西。”

“请再说一遍，让我把它记下来。”老鼠说。“我要讲给我认识的一只跳蚤听。

4、The perform master

Front some performs the master to go on stage, his disciple told him the shoelace to be loose. The master nods expresses thanks, squats down carefully is good. When after the disciple turns around, also squats down the shoelace solution pine. Has an observer to see all these, relentlessly asked: "The master, why do you have the shoelace solution pine?" The master replies: "Because I play am a tired travel, makes a long and wearisome journey lets his shoes matter pine open, may tired display him through this detail to be thin and pale." "Why then you not directly do tell you the disciple?" "He can carefully discover my shoelace has been loose, and warm-heartedly tells me, me certainly must preserve he this kind of warm initiative, promptly encourages for him, why as for has to untie the shoelace, future will be able to have more opportunities to teach him to perform, will be allowed next again to say."

this story told us that:Person time only can make a matter, understands grasps key, is the genuine talented person.

【参考译文】

表演大师

有一位表演大师上场前，他的弟子告诉他鞋带松了。大师点头致谢，蹲下来仔细系好。等到弟子转身后，又蹲下来将鞋带解松。有个旁观者看到了这一切，不解地问：“大师，您为什么又要将鞋带解松呢?”大师回答道：“因为我饰演的是一位劳累的旅者，长途跋涉让他的鞋事松开，可以通过这个细节表现他的劳累憔悴.”“那你为什么不直接告诉你的弟子呢?”“他能细心地发现我的鞋带松了，并且热心地告诉我，我一定要保护他这种热情的积极性，及时地给他鼓励，至于为什么要将鞋带解开，将来会有更多的机会教他表演，可以下一次再说啊。”

这个故事说明了：人一个时间只能做一件事，懂抓重点，才是真正的人才。

含义：比喻模仿别人不到家，反而把自己原有的本领也丢掉了，

典故：相传在两千年前，燕国寿陵地方有一位少年，不愁吃不愁穿，论长相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，经常无缘无故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，饭菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他见什么学什么，学一样丢一样，虽然花样翻新，却始终不能做好一件事，不知道自己该是什么模样。

家里的人劝他改一改这个毛病，他认为是家里人管得太多。亲戚、邻居们说他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本听不进去。日久天长，他竟怀疑自己该不该这样走路，越看越觉得自己走路的姿势太笨、太丑了。

有一天，他在路上碰到几个人说说笑笑，只听得有人说邯郸人走路姿势很美。他一听，急忙走上前去，想打听个明白。不料想，那几个人看见他，一阵大笑之后扬长而去。

邯郸人走路的姿势究竟怎样美呢？他怎么也想象不出来，这成了他的心病。终于有一天，他瞒着家人，跑到遥远的邯郸学走路去了。

一到邯郸，他感到处处新鲜，简直令人眼花缭乱。看到小孩走路，他觉得活泼、美，学；看见老人走路，他觉得稳重，学；看到妇女走路，摇摆多姿，学。就这样，不过半月光景，他连走路也不会了，路费也花光了，只好爬着回去了。

故事出自《庄子秋水》。成语“邯郸学步”，比喻生搬硬套，机械地模仿别人，不但学不到别人的长处，反而会把自己的优点和本领也丢掉。

邯郸学步的道理：比喻模仿别人不到家，连自己原来会的东西都忘了“东施效颦”“邯郸学步”都强调胡乱模仿别人，“邯郸学步”强调学习别人的忘掉自己的;“东施效颦”强调生搬硬套。

A work crew consisting of 150 volunteers worked for eight hours in a light drizzle on Saturday to clean Carson Creek of almost nine tons of debris. “A job well done,” smiled Alan Specter, the director of the event. “We’re scheduled to come back here one more time, three years from now. Of course, we hope that there won’t be nine tons of garbage next time.”

The garbage came in all shapes, sizes, and colors: cans, bottles, bicycles, car tires, autobatteries, sofas, furniture, clothing, shopping carts, bowling balls, plastic bags, dolls, baby carriages, TV antennas, and portable radios. There was even a golf bag with a full set of golf clubs.

Much of the backbreaking work was done by two community groups—the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and two environmental groups—Save the Bay and Watch the Whales. Concerned retirees and volunteers from police and fire departments assisted. Everyone was issued boots, gloves, and rain gear. The work occurred along a two-mile stretch of streambed. The debris was hauled roadside, where trucks lined up to take the trash to the landfill. More than 500 big yellow trash bags were filled.

No one found anything of great value, although a five-year-old boy found an earring that he thought might be worth a million dollars because it was so shiny. He said he would sell it. Then he would donate half of the proceeds to Watch the Whales, and use the other half to buy a triple-scoop ice cream cone every day for the rest of his life.

The House of 1000 Mirrors 千镜屋 Long ago in a small, faraway village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. 很久以前的一个很远的小村庄里，有一个以"千镜屋"而著名的地方。一个乐观的小狗听说了这个地方并决定去参观。

When he arrived, he hounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. 当来到这个地方，他蹦蹦跳欢恰快的上了台阶，来到房门口，他高高竖起耳朵，欢快地摇着尾巴，从门口口往里张望，他惊奇地看到有1000只欢乐的小狗像他一样快的摇尾巴。

He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and firendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."他灿烂地微笑着，回报他的是1000张热情，友好的灿烂笑脸。离开时他心想："这是一个精彩的地主，我一定要经常来参观。"

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him.在这个村里还有另一只想参观"千镜屋"的小狗，他不及第一只小狗乐观，他慢吞吞地爬上台阶，然后耷拉着脑袋往屋子里看。一看到有1000只小狗不友好地盯着他，他便开始冲他们狂吠，镜中的1000只小狗也冲着他狂吠，把他给吓坏了，

As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."他在离开时心想："这是一个恐怖的地方，我再也不会来了。"All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?世界上所有的脸都是镜子，在你所遇见的人的脸上你看到反射出来的是什么?

相传在两千年前，燕国寿陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他寿陵少年吧！这位寿陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，论长相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，经常无缘无故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，饭菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。

他见什么学什么，学一样丢一样，虽然花样翻新，却始终不能做好一件事，不知道自己该是什么模样。家里的人劝他改一改这个毛病，他以为是家里人管得太多。

亲戚、邻居们，说他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本听不进去。日久天长，他竟怀疑自己该不该这样走路，越看越觉得自己走路的姿势太笨，太丑了。

有一天，他在路上碰到几个人说说笑笑，只听得有人说邯郸人走路姿势那叫美。他一听，对上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打听个明白。不料想，那几个人看见他，一阵大笑之后扬长而去。邯郸人走路的姿势究竟怎样美呢？他怎么也想象不出来。这成了他的心病。

终于有一天，他瞒着家人，跑到遥远的邯郸学走路去了。一到邯郸，他感到处处新鲜，简直令人眼花缭乱。看到小孩走路，他觉得活泼、美，学；看见老人走路，他觉得稳重，学；看到妇女走路，摇摆多姿，学。就这样，不过半月光景，他连走路也不会了，路费也花光了，只好爬着回去了。

Mr Smith and his son Jim rent a boat from Mr Green. They find a very good place and catch a lot of fish. Now it is   late and they are going home.

Jim says, “I’ll come here again tomorrow.”

“Yes, me too.” say his father. “But how can we get      back and find the right place again?” “I can make a    mark   on the side of the boat.” Jim answers.

The father laughs and says, “No, that’s foolish! Mr Green won’t give us the same boat next time.”

【释义】

史密斯先生和他的儿子吉姆，从格林先生那里租了一条船。他们找到了一个非常好的地方并抓到了许多鱼。天色已经很晚了，他们要回家了。

吉姆说：“我明天还要再来这里。”

“是的，我也是。”他的父亲说。“但是我们怎么回来并找到正确的地方呢?”“我可以在船的一侧做个记号。”吉姆回答道。

父亲大笑说道：“不那太愚蠢了!格林先生下次不会给我们同一条船的。”

Little Robert asked his mother for two cents. "What did you do with the money I gave you yesterday?"

"I gave it to a poor old woman," he answered.

"Youre a good boy," said the mother proudly. "Here are two cents more. But why are you so interested in the old woman?"

"She is the one who sells the candy."

【释义】

好孩子 小罗伯特向妈妈要两分钱。

"昨天给你的钱干什么了？"

"我给了一个可怜的老太婆，"他回答说。 "你真是个好孩子，"妈妈骄傲地说。"再给你两分钱。可你为什么对那位老太太那么感兴趣呢？"

"她是个卖糖果的。"

刻舟求剑

Making His Mark “刻舟求剑” A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. Isn’t this a very foolish way to look for a sword? 楚国有个人坐船渡江时，他不小心把自己的一把宝剑掉落江中。他马上掏出一把小刀，在宝剑落水的船舷上刻上一个记号。船靠岸后，那楚人立即从船上刻记号的地方跳下水去捞取掉落的宝剑。他怎么找得到宝剑呢?船继续行驶，而宝剑却不会再移动。像他这样去找剑，真是太愚蠢可笑了。

拔苗助长

To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow “拔苗助长” Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who planted a plot of rice. After he planted the seedlings, every day he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day, but still, he thought they were growing too slowly. Eventually he got impatient with the young plants and suddenly he hit upon an idea that one by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. The next early morning, the young man couldn’t wait to check his “achievement”, but he was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying. 从前，有个农夫，种了稻苗(seedlings)后，便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田时，都发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得很不耐烦。想了又想，他终于想到一个“最佳方法”，他将稻苗全都拔高了几分。第二天，一早起身，他迫不及待地去稻田看他的“成果”。 哪知，却看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。

Christmas Eve is the eve of Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a culturally significant celebration for most of the Western world and is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas.

平安夜是圣诞节的前一晚，是大家来庆祝圣主耶稣诞辰的节日。对于西方大部分国家具有很浓的文化意义，或多或少普遍参与圣诞的节日。

In various cultures, a festive dinner is traditionally served for the family and close friends in attendance, when the first star (usually Sirius) arrives on the sky.

在大多数国家，传统的平安夜晚餐是和亲朋好友聚集的日子，当第一颗星星出现在天边的时候就是晚餐开始的时候。

As is known to us all, wrapped gifts are usually given to children during their sound sleeping.They will be happy to open it next when they wake up.

正如大家所知道的，包装好的礼物通常会趁着孩子们熟睡时给他们，等到第二天醒来，他们会很开心的拆礼物。

Its believed that the gifts are given by Santa Claus amoung child.Santa Claus is generally depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots .The modern portrayal of Santa Claus frequently depicts him listening to the Christmas wishes of young children.

通常孩子们都会认为礼物圣诞老人送的。而孩子们想象中的圣诞老人通常是有着圆滚滚的肚子快乐的留着络腮白胡子的老头，穿着有着白色领子的大红色外套，系着黑皮带穿着大靴子。现在的圣诞老人通常都会仔细聆听孩子们的圣诞愿望。

Writing letters to Santa Claus has been a Christmas tradition for children for many years. These letters normally contain a wishlist of toys and assertions of good behavior.

对于孩子们来说给圣诞老人写信已经是多年来的传统了。这些信里通常包括他们想要的玩具清单以及他们良好的表现。

Carrying Faggots to Put Out a Fire

In the last years of the Warring States period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei on a large scale repeatedly and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend itself. In 273 B.B., the qin army launched another attack upon the State of Wei with a momentum more vigorous than ever. The king of the State of Wei summoned his officials,and asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army. After years of chaos caused by the wars,the officials trembled when fighting was mentioned, and no one dared to speak ofresistance. At the critical moment when a large enemy force was bearing down upon the border, most of the offinials persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River and south of the Taihang Mountain. However Su Dai, a counsellor, did not agree. He hurried up to the king and said:"Your Majesty, they dont think about the interests of the country at all.It is just because they are cowardly and afraid of death that they ask you to sue for peace by betraying the country. Of course you can temperarily satisfy the ambition of the king of the State of Qin is insatiably greedy. It will never stop assaulting us until our land is totally given away."Once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire fiercer. That was because he didnt know that,instead of putting out the fire, faggots could only make it burning more vigorously. Isnt it equivalent to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?"Though Su Dais argument was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei. For the king of the State of Wei was cowardly and only cared for peace at the moment.As might be expected,the Qin army assaulted the State of Wei on a large scale in 225 B.C.,surrounding the capital city Daliang and flooding it by digging open the dykes of the Huanghe River.The State of Wei was finally destroyed by the State of Qin.This story appears in the Historical Records Written by Sima Qian.The set phrase"carrying faggots to put out a fire"is used to mean adopting a wrong method to save a situation and ending up by making it worse.

战国末期，秦国向魏国接连发动大规模的进攻，魏国无力抵抗，大片土地都被秦军占领了。到公元前273年，秦国又一次向魏国出兵，势头空前猛烈。

魏王把大臣们召来，愁眉苦脸地问大家有没有使秦国退兵的办法。大臣们由于经过多年的战乱，提起打仗就吓得哆嗦，谁也不敢谈“抵抗”二字。在这大兵压境的危急时刻，多数大臣都劝魏王，用黄河以北和太行山以南的大片土地为代价，向秦王求和。

谋士苏代听了这些话，很不以为然，忙上前对魏王说：“大王，他们是因为自己胆小怕死，才让您去卖国求和，根本不为国家着想。您想，把大片土地割让给秦国虽然暂时满足了秦王的野心，但秦国的欲望是无止境的，只要魏国的土地没割完，秦军就不会停止进攻我们。”

说到这里，苏代讲了一个故事：从前有一个人，他的房子起火了，别人劝他快用水去浇灭大火，但他不听，偏抱起一捆柴草去救火，是因为他不懂得柴草不但不能灭火反而能助长火势的道理。大王若同意拿着魏国土地去求和，不就等于抱着柴草救火吗？”

尽管苏代讲得头头是道，但是胆小的魏王只顾眼前的太平，还是依大臣们的意见把魏国大片土地割让给秦国。到公元225年，果然秦军又向魏国大举进攻，包围了国都大梁，掘开黄河大堤让洪水淹没了大梁城，魏国终于被秦国灭掉了。

故事出自《史记魏世家》。成语“抱薪救火”比喻用错误的方法去消灭祸害，结果反而使祸害扩大。

Imitating Another without Success and Losing What Used to Be OnesOwn Ability

Tradition has it that more than 2,oooyears ago,there lived a young man in the Shouling area of the State of Yan.As his name is not known ,we just call him Shouling young man for conveniences sake.

self confident He was at a loss as to how to behave all the time.

His family members advised him to overcome this shortcoming,but he thought they were fond of poking their noses into his business and were unwilling to provide him with tuition fee.His relatives and neighbours sneered at him,saying that he would never be able to learn anything.Asthe days went by,he even began to doubt whether he should walk the way he did,for he felt more and more that his walking gestures were too clumsy and awkward.

One day,he met some people on the road who werechattingand laughing.One of themsaid that people in Handan walked most gracefully.And thatwas just what he was most concerned about,so he hurreed towards themand wanted to make further inquiries.To his surprise,when these people saw him,they stalked off laughing.

He could not picture to himself in what way their walking gestures were graceful,no matter how hard he racked his parents one day.He went to Handanwhich was far away to learn how to walk.

As soon as he arrived in Handan,he was dazzled to find that everything was novel.He learned from the children there how to walk,because he thought that the childrens walking gestures were lively and pleasing to the eye.He learnd from the old people there how to walk,because he thought the old peoples walking gestures were steady .He learnd from the women there how to walk,because he thought the women swaying walking gestures were beautiful.That being the case with him ,in less than half a month he even forgot how to walk.As he had already used up his traveling expenses,he had to crawl back home.

Thisstory come from the article"Autumn Water"in The Works of Xhuang Zi(Zhuang Zi was a famous ancient Chinese philosopher of about 300B.c.).Later the set phrase"initating another without success and losing what used to be ones own ability"is used to refer to acts of copying others mechanisally in disregard of specififc conditions.

相传在两千年前，燕国寿陵地方有一位少年，不知道姓啥叫啥，就叫他寿陵少年吧！

这位寿陵少年不愁吃不愁穿，论长相也算得上中等人材，可他就是缺乏自信心，经常无缘无故地感到事事不如人，低人一等——衣服是人家的好，饭菜是人家的香，站相坐相也是人家高雅。他见什么学什么，学一样丢一样，虽然花样翻新，却始终不能做好一件事，不知道自己该是什么模样。

家里的人劝他改一改这个毛病，他以为是家里人管得太多。亲戚、邻居们，说他是狗熊掰棒子，他也根本听不进去。日久天长，他竟怀疑自己该不该这样走路，越看越觉得自己走路的姿势太笨，太丑了。

有一天，他在路上碰到几个人说说笑笑，只听得有人说邯郸人走路姿势那叫美。他一听，对上了心病，急忙走上前去，想打听个明白。不料想，那几个人看见他，一阵大笑之后扬长而去。

邯郸人走路的姿势究竟怎样美呢？他怎么也想象不出来。这成了他的心病。终于有一天，他瞒着家人，跑到遥远的邯郸学走路去了。

一到邯郸，他感到处处新鲜，简直令人眼花缭乱。看到小孩走路，他觉得活泼、美，学；看见老人走路，他觉得稳重，学；看到妇女走路，摇摆多姿，学。就这样，不过半月光景，他连走路也不会了，路费也花光了，只好爬着回去了。